POLICE BRIEFS

A man burst into a Crofton home early Thursday, kicked down a door to a bedroom where a man and woman were hiding and stole money before being apprehended by police, county police said.

According to police, a couple lying in bed in their home in the 1500 block of Falstone Lane heard a loud bang and someone charging up the stairs in their home about 1:20 a.m.

The couple locked the bedroom door and barricaded it with a television and stand, but a man kicked down the door and entered the bedroom, police said.

The man, who the couple said they knew, brandished a knife, forced the male resident into a closet and struck him on the head and demanded money from him, said Sgt. John Gilmer, a police department spokesman.

"The suspect was asking the victim for money that was owed to him as a debt," Gilmer said.

The man gave the intruder an unspecified amount of money, he said.

Meanwhile, the woman ran from the house and sought help from two off-duty federal officers who were in the area, Gilmer said. The officers detained the intruder, who was identified as Thomas E. Springs, 32, of the 1800 block of Watch House Circle in Severn, police said.

County police charged Springs with burglary, armed robbery, destruction of property over $500 and related charges, police said. The residents of the home refused medical treatment, police said.

Police search for would-be robbers

A woman was attacked by two men who put her in a headlock and rifled through her pockets as she left a Wal-Mart store near Arundel Mills mall Wednesday night, Anne Arundel County police said.

At about 9:15 p.m., a woman was leaving the store in the 7000 block of Arundel Mills Circle when two men who were walking in front of her turned around and accosted her, police said.

One of the men held her as the other looked through her pockets, police said. The woman screamed, and the men fled to a dark-colored SUV and drove away.

The men did not take anything from the woman, and she refused medical treatment at the scene, police said. Police were searching for the two men.